


rewind (recall)

by moonlights0nata



Category: Witch's Heart (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Mainly Noel Spoilers, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-18
Updated: 2020-03-18
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:48:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23200462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonlights0nata/pseuds/moonlights0nata
Summary: Claire doesn’t know who Noel is but the closer they become, the more Claire mentions Noel feels familiar to her.“Like someone I know from long ago.” She said. “Or someone I’ve known forever...or from a dream.” She turned to him and Noel breath hitched, faced with her bright blue eyes. “But then I wake up and I can’t remember anymore…”
Relationships: Claire Elford/Noel Levine
Comments: 4
Kudos: 23





	rewind (recall)

**Author's Note:**

> So I practically devoured Witch's Heart in like...idk how many days but BOY, I got super hooked. And of course my heart aches for Noel and Claire T_T I can hardly wait for the post-bonus stage Noel route tbh (but I really enjoyed Sirius's !! he's also a big fave).
> 
> This is just a little something I wrote to dump some feelings <3 I really want Noel to be happy man.....
> 
> Comments/Kudos/Etc. always appreciated ! <3

Noel has seen this scene countless times. He has lost count of which loop it is by now, but the sight of crimson blooming on Claire’s open chest is one he has become painfully familiar with. 

He never gets used to it. Every time, it’s like his world crumbles around him. Every time he desperately tells Rouge to _ turn back, please _ . 

Any other person might have become accustomed, even numb to everything but Noel just hurts more and more with every loop, with every failure. Because in this merry go round, there are always glimpses of hope: this time, this time, surely, she’ll make it out. This time Noel took all the precautions, right? 

But he’s wrong, every time, and so he goes back, and back, and back. Again and again and again, the ache growing bit by bit. He bares it, even if the pain should be unbearable, because his wish is something he can’t give up. For Claire. Bright, wonderful, Claire. 

She deserves the world and more, she deserves the stars and constellations up above, the universe that hides behind them. She deserves a happy ending. Noel wouldn’t be a proper magician if he didn’t use the magic and power of the Witch’s Heart to get her than ending. For her he’ll pull tricks out of his sleeves as many times as he has to to ensure her happiness.

With every loop he’s not sure he gains more cards or if he’s running out of them, though. His body aches, more and more, he gets frequent attacks that render him weak and powerless. Anybody else would have learned their lesson by now but Noel can’t let go of his ideals. In every loop he’s tricked by kindness, in every loop he keeps believing in the goodness in people’s heart’s. Just like Claire would do. 

In a few loops, they grow closer together, closer than Noel could have ever hoped for, in the measly few nights he can share with her. For a few instants he’s happy, talking about stars with Claire, listening to her going on and on about something that happened to her the other day, about everything and about nothing. Claire doesn’t know who Noel is but the closer they become, the more Claire mentions Noel feels familiar to her.

“Like someone I know from long ago.” She said. “Or someone I’ve known forever...or from a dream.” She turned to him and Noel breath hitched, faced with her bright blue eyes. “But then I wake up and I can’t remember anymore…”

A few times, It’s as if Claire recalls who Noel is--or was--to her, but the strain of remembering is too much for her and she makes a pained expression, shaking her head. Sometimes she faints and wakes up as if nothing had happened. His heart squeezes but his expression betrays nothing of it.

It’s fine. Claire doesn’t have to remember him. It’s fine.

“This may be odd for me to say but…” Claire says, now, another time, another loop, strangely timid, staring at him. They are side by side, in front of the window and her fingers, voluntarily or not, brush his wrist. “You feel so familiar, Noel. Like…” She touches his wrist properly, glancing down at it. “...you are someone precious to me. Someone I shouldn’t forget.”

It’s fine if she doesn’t remember. It’s fine. But Noel can’t deny, when she says things like that, that he longs for her to know. She shouldn’t, but when she calls him someone _ precious _ , Noel aches. 

“ _ You _ are the one who’s precious.” He wants to say. Claire’s head snaps up, wide eyed, and Noel realizes he said the words out loud. His face feels warm. Claire takes a step closer, the tips of their shoes practically touching. She grabs his wrist. The contact both burns him and makes his skin feel tingly. He wonders if Claire can feel his pulse quicken. 

“Noel.” Her expression twists to something pained, like she’s fighting to recall. “Did I forget, after all? Why?” Her grip shakes. “ _ Why _ did I forget you?”

She sounds so distraught. Noel shakes his head, smiling gently, a little sadly, at her.

“It’s alright, Claire. You don’t have to remember.”

“Don’t say that !” In all the loops, he has never been face to face with Claire’s anguish like this. Directed at him. It surprises him. She curls her other hand in a fist and hits him lightly in the chest. “I do know you, then? Why does it hurt so much when I want to remember? ” She looks on the verge of tears. “Even though...you must be so dear to me…”

What’s Noel supposed to do against those words? 

With every rewind, he aches more, but at the same time his love for Claire grows and blooms like the flowers of the field they used to play in. She, most of all, most of everyone, makes him equally weak and strong.

He frees his wrist from her and envelops Claire in his arms, pulling her to his chest. She’s warm, here, and alive, and Noel can forget for an instant the sight of her cold and lifeless body from countless rewinds. Right now, she’s here, smelling of the sweet shampoo from the baths, in his arms.

“It’s okay. If it hurts, you don’t have to remember me, Claire.” He rests his cheek atop her head. Her hair tickles his skin. He smiles, despite everything. “It’s fine.”

She shakes her head, hugging him back. She’s shorter than him, fitting so perfectly in his arms, but her grip on him speaks of her strength. Noel feels she’s the one holding him up, rather than the other way around. 

“Doesn’t it hurt you, too?” She asks. “You don’t want me to remember, Noel?”

“...” 

There’s the selfish part of him that wants her to know. The part that wants to return to those simple days when they’d play together, them and Sirius, Dorothy watching over them. He  _ longs _ for that so much.

But he can’t ever have that back. Once Claire walks out of the mansion’s door, she’ll move forwards and Noel will be left behind. He doesn’t want her to hesitate, then. He knows that Claire, with her heart made of gold, she’d try to find a way for Noel to go with her or, worst case scenario, she’d attempt to _ stay. _ She’s just that kind of person. She’d never leave someone behind.

“It’s best that you don’t.” He mutters. He pulls back lightly to see her face. He reaches out, because he can, he  _ can _ , and brushes away a tear falling down her cheek. “This...is more than enough for me.” _ ‘Your safety, your happiness, that’s enough.’ _

Claire doesn’t look convinced. She looks terribly sad, her hands scrunching up the back of Noel’s vest.

But then, she says. “Okay.” She sniffles, squeezing her eyes shut before she opens them again. There’s a new shine to them. “Even if I can’t remember, I can still make new memories with you, though !” She smiles and Noel is blinded by her. “Right?”

Noel almost wants to cry. They only have a few days, two more days, for those new memories. He can’t promise Claire a future. He can’t be in her future. She’s dangling hope in front of him, a hope he can’t have. It’s almost cruel. But she doesn’t know. Claire is nothing but honest in her intentions and that is one of the reasons Noel adores her.

So he smiles back, with all the affection and tenderness he holds for her and nods. “...Yes. That's true.”

Claire squeezes the air out of him in her next hug but Noel can’t complain. He laughs breathlessly instead and she joins him soon enough. He lets himself be happy tonight, in this moment. Claire has that effect on him, making him forget all the bad things and bringing a smile to his face. She’s light. She’s the sun, she’s his hero. Noel wants to protect all that she is.

But Noel is no hero. No matter how much he wishes to be.

Claire is killed again in that loop. She won’t remember their conversation next time. She’ll forget all about it, all about him again. It hurts even more this time around after holding Claire in his arms, after she spoke of new memories with him, after she called him _ precious _ and  _ dear _ to her.

It hurts. It hurts so much. Noel just wants this to be over but he can’t give up now. “Rouge. Go back.” His voice cracks. His heart cracks. “ **_Please._ ** ”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm also at
> 
> pocketsonny on tumblr  
> @moons0nata (main) and @pocketwriting (wips/ideas) on twitter


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